the last day of summer

This is the last day.

This is the last day of sleeping in, of lazy coffee mornings on the sofa, and of mid-morning workouts.

This is the last day of optional reading only and the last day that I will be only “mom” and not “mom/teacher” for a few months.

What do you do with the last day of summer break?

Do you squeeze every bit of freedom and joy from it, go a million places, and do all the things left on your summer fun list?

Or do you take it slow and easy, savoring the sweetness of time passing and the joy of a total absence of deadlines?

As the first day of school has approached, I have tried to get excited about the schedule and the books, the structure and the new information. But I’m a summer girl and when I imagine heaven it looks a lot like summer break; rejoicing, happy souls with only one goal: to love and be loved.

On the outside I keep saying, “School days, here we come.”

But let’s be real. On the inside I’m pleading, “Jesus, come soon.“

Because the start of school means we are ticking off another year, and I am staring at giant children where my babies once sat. My first baby will be in fourth grade this year.

I can catalog all the events, emotions, happiness, and horrors of my own fourth grade experience at Imperial Elementary.

How is it possible that my oldest baby is now living a season of life that I remember like that? If we keep this pace, he will be off to college next week, and I should expect a wedding and then grandchildren by the spring.

Just call me Grandma.

My actual baby will turn five years old in three months. Five year-old babies are so cute. They can be so sassy, though. I strangely can’t find anything in the baby books about how to wean her off tart remarks.

Clearly we are charting new territory in the baby world.

But today we won’t chart anything. Today we will have a lazy breakfast, make some water balloons, eat shaved ice, climb Mt. Bonnell for a view of the Colorado river, and then say goodnight to another lovely summer.

School days, here we come.

Jesus, come soon.